LETTER OF THE DAY - Jamaica lags in IT governance

The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has been unhurried in taking advantage of information and communications technology (ICT) to renovate and streamline the public sector, and in adopting a perspective that ICT governance is as significant to national infrastructure as energy, water and roads.

Related projects are delayed. For example, the ICT Road Map speaks to creating a secure network linking all ministries, departments and agencies, and providing data and voice services (GOJ, ICT Road Map, 2013, p. 34). However, its implementation deadline of March 2014 has not been met.

Jamaica has no sufficiently rigorous ICT governance plan in place. It is no surprise that according to the UN e-Government Survey 2014, we are behind Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts-Nevis, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Dominican Republic.

There are challenges, as Government will have to improve ICT infrastructure and work on policy issues and legislation. Improving IT governance structure will have many benefits which will improve the quality of service delivery to businesses and customers and increase the GOJ's revenue collection with improved transparency and accountability.

Current initiatives like the development of a logistics hub will also benefit from the standards and policies of a robust ICT governance framework. As a student of ICT, I would like to know if our Government is working on an all-inclusive, clearly defined and centralised ICT governance framework, where key performance indicators of each initiative are aligned.